Close Call: A Liz Carlyle Novel

A paucity of action mars former MI5 director Rimington’s disappointing eighth novel featuring British intelligence officer Liz Carlyle (after 2012’s The Geneva Trap). Carlyle and her MI5 colleagues closely monitor a shipment of guns and bombs from Yemen making its way across Europe, at one point arresting a former French intelligence officer who has gone rogue and become an arms dealer. With the aid of the CIA, Carlyle and company track the weapons to a warehouse outside Manchester, where terrorists appear to be planning a major attack at a soccer stadium. Administrative politics and investigative procedure dominate the tedious second half of the novel, which builds to an anticlimactic finale. Fans may be saddened by the loss of a key series character in this outing, but they will be more upset with its overall lack of urgency. [em]Agent: Georgina Capel: Capel & Land (U.K.). (Aug.) [/em]